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Saints Peter & Paul UOC 8410 West 131st St. Palos Park, IL 60464

V. Rev. Vasyl Sendeha — Rector www.sspeterandpauluoc.net

Rev.vasyl@yahoo.com 708-361-5165

Parish Council President

Sandra Hladky

Sisterhood of St. Anne

Andrea Manson

Church School Director

Pat Wolsko

Ukrainian Saturday School

Director PM Olenka

Church Choir Director

George Cepynsky

Seraphim Group President

Debbie Pierog

50/50 Club President

Michael Gbur

Jr. UOL

President Antony Sendeha

Many Orthodox Christians in countries such as the United States fast before Christmas Day. Many people identify the Nativity Fast as the period of preparing to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth. It is believed that fasting helps people shift their focus from themselves to others, spending less time worrying about food and us-ing more time in increased prayer and caring for the poor. In return, fasting before the Nativity enables one to fully enjoy, appreciate and cele-brate the Nativity of Christ. Many Orthodox Christians attend a special church liturgy on Christmas Day on January 7. Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas Day with various traditions. For example, many churches light a small fire of blessed palms and

Orthodox Christmas December 25?

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burn frankincense to commemorate the three wise men’s (also known as Magi) gifts to baby Jesus. Some parishes have joint celebrations for Christmas Day as Christmas Festal dinner togeth-er after the Divine Liturgy. The Orthodox Christians’ observance of Christmas Day on or near January 7 is not a nationwide public holiday in the United States. However, parking and traffic around Orthodox Christian churches may be busy around this time of the year. Businesses and schools have no problem of letting people miss work or school that day to celebrate their Christmas. There are Orthodox Churches in the United States that recognize the holiday dates according to the Julian calendar, for example the Russian, Ukrainian, and Serbian Orthodox Churches. Christmas is still on December 25 in the Julian calendar so the January 7 date is only valid between 1901 and 2100. The Gregorian date for Or-thodox Christmas will be January 8 in 2101 if the Julian calendar is still used. There is a talk about adopting Gregorian calendar fully as the Church Liturgical calendar. The Julian calendar was revised in 1923 and this version is more in line with the Gregorian calendar. Some Orthodox churches fol-low the revised Julian calendar but many Orthodox churches still follow the more traditional Julian calendar, which has the original dates for Christian observances prior to the Gregorian calendar’s introduction. According to the Orthodox Church in America, many Americans of Orthodox Christian faith celebrate Christmas according to the revised Julian calendar, which is December 25 on Gregorian cal-endar (Civil Calendar) For Orthodox Christians, Christmas Day is not about presents, eggnog or Christmas characters that have become popular through commercialization. Christmas Day is a time to heal the soul. It is also a time of peace and unity. White cloth is used on dinner tables in some countries to symbol-ize purity and the cloth that baby Jesus was wrapped in. Straw may be placed on these tables to symbolize the simplicity of the place where Jesus was born. Candles may be lit to represent the light of Christ and the festive Christmas meal represents the end of fasting.

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Sunday

January 5

29th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone four. Nativity (St. Philip's Fast). Food with Oil Sunday before the Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ. Holy Ten Martyrs of Crete: Theodulus, Satur-ninus, Euporus, Gelasius, Eunician, Zoticus, Pompeius, Agathopus, Basilides, and Evaristus (250). Venerable Niphon bishop of Cyprus (4th c.). Venerable Paul, bishop of Neo-Caesarea (4th c.). St. Nahum of Ochrid, enlightener of the Bulgarians (910) (Bulgaria). Venerable Da-vid of Echmiadzin in Armenia (693). Venera-ble Niphon, bishop of Cyprus (4th c.).

Hebrews 11:9-10, 17-23, 32-40 Sunday Before Matthew 1:1-25 Sunday Before

Reader of the Hours - Karen Jakubczak Reader of the Eng. Epist.– Karen Jakubczak Reader of the Ukr. Epist.– Halyna Kashpar

Today

28th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone three. Nativity (St. Philip's Fast). Fish Allowed Week of Holy Forefathers Prophet Haggai (Aggaeus) (500 B.C.). Venerable Sophia, nun (in the world Solomo-nia), wife of Grand Duke Basil III (1542). Martyr Marinus of Rome (283). Blessed Empress Theophania of Byzantium (893). St. Memnon, archbishop of Ephesus (5th c.). St. Nicholas Chrysoberges, patriarch of Constantinople (995).St. Modestus II, arch-bishop of Jerusalem (634) (Greek). Martyrs Promus and Hilarion (Greek).

Colossians 3:4-11 Epistle Luke 14:16-24 Gospel

Reader of the Hours - Sandra Hladky Reader of the Eng. Epist.– Antony Sendeha Reader of the Ukr. Epist.– PM Olenka

Saturday January 4

Vespers at 5:00pm

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Food for thought

The Banquet

Once upon a time, a young man walked into a car dealership to inquire about the purchase of an automobile. The salesmen on duty that day could see that he was young and that he had ar-rived on his bicycle. They proceeded to explain how good their brand of automobile was, and that one should not aspire to own one of their autos as one’s ‘first purchase’ of a vehicle, but ra-ther that one should ‘work one’s way up’ to their ‘higher class’ model. They laughed as they sent the young man on his way. The young man bought his first car somewhere else, but never reached the point of going back to that first dealership. Years later he read that the ‘higher class’ brand of auto was being dis-continued due to poor sales figures. One time a group of church members, mostly senior with one relative newcomer, were surveying some damage to the shingles high up on their church steeple. The parish community was in need of new members. The newcomer was recently married, and anticipating the birth of their first child. With a smile and as if ‘a dare’, one of the senior members suggested to the newcomer that he should climb up on a ladder and put in a few more nails to straighten up the loose shingles. Do you think the newcomer and his wife were impressed with how the more senior members were concerned about his personal safety? Would this be a relia-ble group with whom to build one’s future? Another time, during the usual ‘social hour’ in the church hall following a church service, one of the senior church members was loudly and stridently bad-mouthing the president of Ukraine, so that all could hear and understand (since there was no expressed opposition), what kind and manner of church group this was, and that anybody with a differing opinion was ‘free to go elsewhere’. These are some examples of how a group, with its representa-tives and members, can appear to be open and inviting, and yet give new arrivals a feeling of rejection and non-acceptance. So let us consider what kind of banquet it is, which we invite others to attend.

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Sunday School Teachers’ Corner

Parish Council

Next Monthly Parish Council is Sunday January 26, 2020. Rep-resentatives from parish organizations must be present. Meeting is open to the public.

SUNDAY SCHOOL RECAP: We continued our Nativity Lent readings from "Welcoming the Christ Child". They read at home The Anointing of David, David and Goliath, David the Psalmist, King Solomon the wise, King Solomon's ring.” and at School we read “The prophet Elias and

Chariot of fire.” as well as added the ornaments to our Jesse Tree. Thank you again, parents, for continuing to read and discuss these short stories with your children. The children were visited by St. Nicholas last Sunday, who read a beautiful story of Christmas Spider Miracle. Yours in Christ~ Ms. Debbie & Ms. Karen

Is it a banquet to which all are invited and welcomed with Chris-tian love? (Admittedly a difficult goal to achieve.) Is it a banquet which people feel they must attend, or else they will have to suffer consequences? Is it a banquet to which some people are invited in order to serve as sources of amusement? Is it a banquet through which the host will stroll and cast out any guests not dressed in ‘appropriate’ clothing? If a guest is invited to a feast, and during the feast experiences insult, humiliation, and/or confrontation, -- is he likely to return again? Is he/she really welcome? Let us consider our personal conduct: Is our behavior proper for a church community seeking new members? Are we a good representative of a loving and accepting church community?

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God bless our grandson Corey Cikauskas on his move

to a new job in Alabama. We will miss you. Love, Grandpa &

Grandma John & Leona Jaksich

For the health of my Father Pavlo in Ukraine by Halyna Kash-

par

For the health of my husband Voloodimer by Halyna Kashpar

For the health & welfare of the Hubert Family by John Gbur

For the health of Tina Palasti by PM Olenka

For the health of Anthony Kaczor by Michael Supilowski

For the health of Tina Palasti by Tom Gbur

—————————————————————–——— In memory of my Mother Polina. Memory Eternal by

Halyna Kashpar.

Seven Day Vigil Candles

Seraphim Group

Our next meeting will be Tuesday January 14, 2020 after Divine Liturgy at 9:30am Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Blessings, Debbie Pierog, President. Any questions please contact me: Deb12153@aol.com or 708-710-6009 text or call.

Second Collection

Since the month of January is the month of Sanctity of life.

Parish council dedicated second collection for Sundays in

January to benefit Martha and Mary Ministry. It is a Pan Or-

thodox Chicago based ministry to help women with unwanted

pregnancies to get help and avoid killing unborn babies

through abortion.

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We ask all of you to remember in your prayers the following individuals, who are in need of God's healing and grace: Joseph Kapusta, Richard Kimak, Leona Jaksich, Jeanne Maack, Pani Mary Donahue, Frank Palasti, Donna Nevels, Maria, Andrew J, Tony Zerebny, Maria Savoy, Nicole, Tom Macauliffe, Elena, John, Michael P, Christine, Anthony, Catherine Hladky, Andrew Hladky, Dean Manson, Pavlo, Barba-ra Patronik, Elias, Katie Bruce, Patti Faye, Toni Marie Klavin, Michael Kimak, Chloe Mckinney, Yuriy Zmysly, Paul Jr & Dor-othy Seliga, Wolodymer Kashpar, Priest Vasyl Dovhan, Priest David Clooney, Priest Petro, PM Maria, Frankie, Zachary, Orest, Oksana, Alexander, Paul, Olga.

Prayer Corner for the Month of December

Panahyda January 5. In memory of Father Juriy on one year anniversary of passing into eternal life. Requested by Korolyk Family

Our Ninth Annual Cookie Walk was simply Amazing!!! thanks to you our talented and generous bakers who baked at home and donated their creation as well as to a hard working team, who baked at the church hall premises in the evenings. We have almost doubled on the raised funds form last year’s Cookie walk. All of the proceeds to caregiving committee. May God bless you and reward you for your generosity and dedi-cation hundredfold.!!! With Gratitude PM Olenka

Ninth Annual Cookie Walk

Memorial Service

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Today — Kulyk Family & Kashpar Family 01/05/2020 Korolyk Family 01/05/2020 Eve of the Nativity Holy Supper Lenten Potluck 01/07/2020 Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ/ Nativity Dinner 01/12/2020 Janet Milton and Pat Wolsko 01/19/2020 Natalia Cepynsky 01/26/2020 Sandra Hladky & Jeanne Maack 02/02/2020 SOUPER BOWL SUNDAY” - SOUP MAKERS 02/9/2020 Donna & Jim Nevels

Celebrate Nativity with your parish family Annual Nativity Dinner to follow After the Divine Liturgy Tuesday January 7 Donation to cover partially the cost of the caterer $15.00 per adult (18+) and $10.00 per Child (6-17) Children 5 and under free

Coffee Hour Schedule

Snow Duty

IF UNABLE TO MAKE YOUR SCHEDULED WEEK, PLEASE FIND A REPLACEMENT FOR YOURSELF.

WEEK OF 12/29 THRU 1/04 -- Elias Gordan

WEEK OF 1/05 THRU 01/11 -- Stan Jakubczak

WEEK OF 01/12 THRU 01/18 -- Brian Ciapinski

WEEK OF 01/19 THRU 01/25 --Pat Beck

There is a CD available for purchase with Carols by Seminarian of Our St. Sophia Seminary. This is a fundraiser event for Semi-narians. If you would like to purchase their CD, pick one up at the table located at the entrance of the church. Place the asked donation of $20.00 into a candle basket, thank you.

CD — Carols by Seminarians of St. Sophia

Nativity of Jesus Christ Celebration